Weather Report
16.89℃
Saturday, May 4
Adedipe urged the court, to set aside the ex-parte order of arrest it had earlier issued against the former governor, saying that at the time the order of arrest was made, the charge had not been served on his client.
Lead counsel to the EFCC, Dr Kemi Phinheiro SAN, however, urged the court to dismiss the application, insisting that the warrant of arrest should not be set aside until the defendant makes himself available for trial.
Pinheiro then prayed the court to direct his lawyer to accept the service of the charge on behalf of the defendant.
Justice Emeka Nwite made the order following the submission of lead counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC Dr Kemi Pinheiro SAN that Bello has not show up despite the order of court compelling Bello to appear.
Meanwhile, the EFCC on Tuesday served a copy of the charge sheet of alleged fraud to the tune of N84 billion against the immediate past governor of Kogi State Yahaya Bello on his lawyer, Abdulwahab Mohamed SAN.
Relying on section 384 (4 and 5) of the Administrative and Criminal Justice Act 2015, Justice Nwite direct the counsel to the immediate past governor to receive a copy of the charge.
The judge rejected the plea by the senior lawyer that a junior lawyer in his team, AI Musa, be the one to accept the charges on behalf of the former governor.
He was absent from court for his arraignment on a 19-count charge of alleged money laundering to the tune of ₦84bn..
Read Full Story
